Mike Berman's Random Thoughts and Opinions

Friday, June 24, 2016

Pro Life. Pro God. Pro Gun.

I was behind a pick-up truck at a stoplight, and the above bumper sticker was proudly displayed in the top corner of the window. "PRO LIFE. PRO GOD. PRO GUN." These are all reasonable positions for someone to take, and I certainly have no problem with sticking your beliefs on the back of your F-150 for all to see.

The issue I have is that these three stickers were not sold separately. It is a single sticker with all three positions. And trust me on this - the church or gun shop where this sticker was purchased did not offer any other permutations of these three options, besides the exact three shown. This is an example of an ideology setting your beliefs. It's probably a safe bet that this guy is also not a big proponent of same-sex marriage, or doing anything about climate change.

My personal preference is to choose my positions on an individual basis. For example, I happen to support at least one of the three sentiments above, but not all three. This means I can probably never run for President. But I don't find it to be any sort of profound contradiction. I suspect that puts me squarely in the minority - it certainly does among people that I interact with. And what makes me even more of a freak is that I've actually changed my position a full 180 degrees on at least one of these three topics.

My challenge to you is to think about where you would stand on a list of issues, such as the three stated above. If most or all of your principles fall in line with a particular ideology, consider whether you want to be a person who can walk into a shop and purchase everything you believe on a pre-printed sticker.